Timothy Bohling

has been widely embraced by businesses. In practice, however, examples of success contrast with anecdotes where the diffusion of CRM into organizations continues to be a slow process and/or where CRM implementation outcomes have fallen short of expectations. Successful implementation depends on a number of factors such as fit between of a firm’s CRM strategy and programs and its broader marketing strategy, and intraorganizational and interorganizational cooperation and coordination among entities involved in implementation. Building on the results of a survey of the CRM-implementationrelated experiences of 101 U.S.-based firms, in this article the authors identify factors associated with successful CRM implementation and advance directions for future research.

This study addresses significant challenges that practitioners face when using customer lifetime value (CLV) for customer selection. First, the authors propose a Bayesian decision theory–based customer selection framework that accommodates the uncertainty inherent in predicting customer behavior. They develop a joint model of purchase timing and quantity that is amenable for selecting customers using CLV. Second, the authors compare performance of the proposed customer selection framework (1) with the current customer selection procedure in the collaborating firm and (2) with different customer-level cost allocation rules that are necessary for computing CLV. The study finds that given a budget constraint, customers selected by means of a Bayesian decision theory–based framework (i.e., using the maximized expected CLV of a customer and the corresponding optimal marketing costs as an estimate of future costs) provide the highest profits. The study provides guidelines for implementati...

Each customer varies in his/her lifetime value to a firm. A firm would like to estimate the lifetime value of each customer and use this information in planning differential marketing initiatives targeted at each customer. Customer lifetime value computations require different approaches depending on the business application that a firm is looking at. The authors present two approaches of computing customer lifetime value and offer some best practice applications. The authors also address challenges that firms typically face in implementing the customer lifetime value approach to marketing.

Conceptually, customer relationship management (CRM) has been widely embraced by businesses. In practice, however, examples of success contrast with anecdotes where the diffusion of CRM into organizations continues to be a slow process and/or where CRM implementation outcomes have fallen short of expectations. Successful implementation depends on a number of factors such as fit between a firm's CRM strategy and programs and its broader marketing strategy, and intraorganizational and interorganizational cooperation and coordination among entities involved in implementation. Building on the results of a survey of the CRM-implementation-related experiences of 101 U.S.-based firms, in this article the authors identify factors associated with successful CRM implementation and advance directions for future research.

In presenting this dissertation as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for an advanced degree from Georgia State University, I agree that the Library of the University shall make it available for inspection and circulation in accordance with its regulations governing materials of this type. I agree that permission to quote from, to copy from, or publish this dissertation may be granted by the author or, in his/her absence, the professor under whose direction it was written or, in his absence, by the Dean of the Robinson College of Business. Such quoting, copying, or publishing must be solely for the scholarly purposes and does not involve potential financial gain. It is understood that any copying from or publication of this dissertation which involves potential gain will not be allowed without written permission of the author. All dissertations deposited in the Georgia State University Library must be used only in accordance with the stipulations prescribed by the author in t...